But he was keen to stress the 23-year-old has a long way to go in his recovery and that Bolton's scheduled game with Blackburn on Saturday remains on the back burner.

He said: "It's very early in the process, the doctors have stressed that so we all know what's involved.

"Fabrice still has a long way to go but it's encouraging signs and whilst that is the case it's really positive and we move forward from that point.

"I was fortunate to see him and had a brief conversation which will obviously remain between us. We have to understand it's early in his continued fight for improvement."

Coyle hailed the "remarkable work" being done by hospital staff and conceded he could "never have envisaged" Muamba making such improvement in such a short period of time.

But when asked if that meant he could now think of focusing on Saturday's game at the Reebok Stadium, Coyle added: "The answer to that is no, because that's not something of great importance to me at this moment in time.

"In the course of today, as we hope and pray that Fabrice continues to improve, that's something we will have to look at.

"My thoughts are that we will have the group back in training tomorrow and we will look at it from then. The one concern we all have is for Fabrice only."